As you may know SET BUG and Bike Sauce have been attending meetings and voicing concerns about safety for cyclists and primarily pedestrians. The shopping concentration is a destination for every day needs. It is also a gateway to the Leslie Spit and the Lakeshore multi-use trail. My understanding is many people walk or bike to this area to shop and recreate and many commuters travel through it by car.

I skimmed through the Transportation study and noted:

“traffic” does not include pedestrians or cyclists

No mention of cycling facilities in the immediate area (Eastern, Lakeshore and Martin Goodman)

% of people biking or walking to work is assumed to be 3% (transit 17% and Cars 80%) pg. 8 traffic study

No traffic counts done on weekend (I may have missed them)

All “mitigation measures” are addressing car traffic

No evidence of re-routing heavy trucks

I couldn’t see anything on the status of parking (may have missed it)

No evidence of pedestrian or bicycle analysis (of circulation or volumes) at all.

I skimmed the Environmental Project Report Volume 1 and found

No evidence that Toronto Transportation (cycling or otherwise) was engaged in the process

Loads of comments regarding walking and safety issues on Leslie (among other things).

Please take a moment to have a look and compile any thoughts. Send them along and we can think about how to bundle them up and send them in.

Also, the TTC has dropped of a copy of these reports at various locations including the Jones Library, Beaches Library and here at the Health Centre. Let me know if you want to borrow copy for a day or so.

Also, a small group of residents SET BUG and Bike Sauce people will be meeting with the TTC in the second week of October. Please pass along any ideas and let me know if you would like to be included in any correspondence.

Thanks, Paul

What do you think? I’m rather surprised that bike-related stuff seems to be ignored… the Martin-Goodman Trail and the connecting path to the Leslie Street Spit are quite busy routes for cyclists AND pedestrians (not to mention rollerbladers).

The new tracks will follow Leslie south and then turn east into the new barn. This will cross the trail that heads from the south side of Lake Shore down to Commissioners street (is that Martin Goodman?). As well there is a trail that goes along the north side of Lake Shore Blvd. from Copxwell all the way to Cherry Street, I hope those are both left intact. A LOT of people use those to get to the Ashbridge’s Bay Park (beach) and Beaches Park (beach) area that is the largest (only?) beach in Toronto. Every night this summer there were literally thousands of people down there, mostly young people who biked or walked down.

Parking down there is expensive and there isn’t enough of it – so drivers don’t go there as much as they would if there were enough.

As it is, I’d say the vast majority of people that use these parks get there in ways other than the car. This should be reflected in the access routes that get people there, like the route around the new LRV barn at Leslie.

P.S. Perhaps the TTC should give some thought to the idea of running a Street Car line right into Ashbridge’s Bay Park?